The present invention relates to a connector with a short circuit which has at least one pair of contacts and normally holds them in a shorted state but, when engaged with a mating connector, releases them from that state. The invention also pertains to a connector assembly adapted for interconnecting a pair of such connectors.
If a pair of contacts of a connector are not terminated but remain open when it is not connected to the mating connector, it is liable to pick up noise; to avoid this, a connector with a short circuit has been employed. The conventional connector with a short circuit is of the type wherein a pair of contacts to be connected to those of the mating connector and a switch (composed of a fixed contact piece and a movable contact piece), which is turned OFF when the connector is engaged with the mating connector, are both housed in the connector housing and the both contact pieces of the switch are electrically connected to the pair of contacts inside or outside of the connector housing. However, such a prior art connector requires a large number of parts and is complicated in construction, and hence is bulky and costly.